Cuevas de Arom

Fernando Mora wasn’t born into a winemaking family, but at young age, he started making wines in an apartment in Zaragoza. A native of Aragon, Fernando realized that the native variety of his place of birth, Garnacha, could be far more than the custom labels and bulk wines upon which the region based its early success. So, first, at Bodegas Frontonio, then launching Cuevas de Arom in Campo de Borja before moving it to Calatayud and partnering with Bodegas San Alejandro, Fernando Mora sought out the most expressive, uniquely situated, high-elevation, and oldest vines of Garnacha to show that the Garnacha from Aragon could be as winsome, complex, and ethereal as any Garnacha made in the rest of Spain if not the world.

Fernando isn’t solely a proponent of Garnacha in Aragon, but he is a Master of Wine who proposed in his thesis a pricing hierarchy for vineyards in Campo de Borja based on the quality of grapes that specific vineyards and villages were capable of producing. This strategy would provide a living wage for growers and combat the race-to-the-bottom mentality that this DO seemed to be embracing. Without change, this commercial approach to winemaking would result in uninteresting bulk wine and threaten the best vineyards – those most challenging and expensive to work. The add-on effects would be the loss of these dry-farmed vineyards to more profitable crops, erosion, and a higher demand for irrigation in an already dry area.

Fernando Mora launched Cuevas de Arom in Campo de Borja but due to challenges with the DO, moved his project to Calatayud where Yolanda Diaz, the technical director for Bodegas San Alejandro, saw the potential for a partnership with Fernando Mora’s drive and enthusiasm combined with her access to the best vineyards among the many members of the cooperative. From this partnership Fernando has created a regional wine in Altas Parcelas, a village wine with As Ladieras and two single vineyard offerings: Os Cantals from sandy red-clay soils, and Tuca Negra from a sandy slate and quartzite terruño.